Amit Malviya filed a defamation suit suing Sinha for ₹10 crores, insisting in the legal notice that he remove the "false" Facebook post.
Amit Malviya. (amitmalviyabjp/Facebook)
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya, on Saturday, 8 June filed a defamation suit against an RSS member and Kolkata-based lawyer for making “false” allegations of sexual exploitation against him and demanded an apology.
Santanu Sinha wrote in a post on Facebook, “Is Amit Malviya still waiting in a/some five-star hotel in Kolkata for when the Bengal leadership will supply him with beautiful women? Has the competition within the Bengal leadership – to capture the chairperson’s post by supplying beauties stopped?”
“Please compete to stand by (sympathise with or support) working members, and not to capture the chairperson or editor (secretary) by supplying beauties to Amit Malviya or any other office-bearer from Delhi. They put their lives on the line based on your assurances and believing your words,” he wrote.
In response to this, Amit Malviya filed a defamation suit suing Sinha for ₹10 crores, insisting in the legal notice that he remove the Facebook post which was “false with an intention to harm” him.
The notice sent by Amit Malviya’s lawyer reads, “The nature of allegations are extremely offensive in as much as they falsely allege sexual misconduct purportedly committed by my client.”
The notice further reads that “such malevolently malicious statements have been deliberately made to tarnish his reputation,” and asked that the post should be taken down within three days (11 June) and a public apology should be issued.
Talking about his post to PTI, Sinha said that his post was not aimed at anyone and that the post had been misconstrued. However, he said that he sticks to his stand. “My Facebook post was not aimed at anyone. I wanted to question those state BJP leaders who use dubious means to please their Delhi bosses so that they can hold on to their posts here. My Facebook post has been misconstrued. I have neither withdrawn my post nor am I going to budge before any threat,” he said.
He also said that he has sought time to reply to the legal notice.
The Congress, meanwhile, demanded at a press conference that the BJP sack Malviya as the head of its IT department. The opposition party demanded an independent inquiry against Malviya. “The reality is less than 24 hours after PM Modi was sworn in, serious charges of sexual exploitation have been levelled against a very prominent office bearer of the BJP…Today we seek the immediate removal of Amit Malviya from his position. There cannot be justice unless and until he gets removed from his position…” said Congress leader Supriya Shrinate in the press conference.
(Edited by Neena with PTI inputs)
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